“He seemed a little strange,” Kairus said as they both fastened their seatbelts and restarted the car.

“He is, but he’s a total sweetheart. He’s always been really nice to me, constantly giving me gifts when we were young. This is definitely not unusual for him,” Josephine explained as they drove back out into the dark night.

The two didn’t talk much for the rest of the drive, but while en route, Josephine received an unexpected text from Phil, “Thinking about you :).” She smiled at her phone and responded with her own smiley face. Kairus noticed her looking at her phone,but she put it away, hiding it from him.

After a few minutes, they arrived at Josephine’s residence hall, rushing inside and entering Josephine’s room.

They removed their rain gear and set it outside in the hallway. Josephine then placed her bear, snacks, and flashlight down on her desk. She changed her clothes and sat down on her bed in just shorts and a tea-shirt. She then let her hair down and rung it out with a towel.

“I hope you know I’m not sleeping over or anything,” Kairus said, breaking the silence.

“What, why?” Josephine responded, shocked.

“I have a lot of homework to do, and we have no idea if classes are going to be in session tomorrow. The school board hasn’t said anything.”

“Why can’t you just do homework in my room? Why do you want to leave me? Alana isn’t going to be here. She left!”

“Well number one, you’re a distraction. I won’t get anything done with you here, and that’s a fact. Two, I promised Ross that we’d study together tonight. Three, I thought you wanted space?” He explained almost mockingly to Josephine who was less than appreciative.

“Oh so now you’re quoting me. Clearly the circumstances have changed, but if you want to leave me to be murdered by some stalker than by all means, go study with your shitty friend!”

“You know what, Jos’? This is EXACTLY why I’m leaving. You can’t stop being a complete bitch for more than five minutes. Maybe if you’d stop thinking about yourself so much and gave a shit about other people, they wouldn’t leave you all the fucking time!” He lashed out angrily, releasing so much of the frustration Josephine had built up in him over the months.

“Oh whatever, Kai! I don’t fucking need you to protect me anyway. You’re probably the one stalking me!” She bit back bitterly, speaking through her ego and irrational anger.

“OH PLEASE! You’re so fucking self absorbed that you’ve convinced yourself that you have some made up stalker that’s just so obsessed with you! You’re obsessed with yourself, Josephine and that’s it. Face it!”

“Just fucking get out of my room, Kai.” She concluded the conversation, no longer looking at him. He took a moment but eventually got up and left her room without saying another word. But he felt bad, terrible about what he said to her.

He stood outside the door, contemplating whether he should go back in and apologize, spending the rest of the night with her, so she wouldn’t be alone. But ultimately, Kairus decided that it was time Josephine learned to fend for herself. He was tired of being pushed around and mistreated by her, so he let her be.

Kairus walked away from the door, put his hood up, and walked back out into the pouring rain. He then got back into his car, drove away, and returned to his own dorm.

Josephine laid back in her bed, angry, nervous, and confused. She couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that she was constantly being watched or followed. She was convinced that she had to constantly look over her shoulder to make sure no one was there.

She was also upset and sad about her fight with Kairus and wanted to text him apologizing, but at the same time, she wanted him to text her first, so they both said nothing. She was even tempted to ask Phil to come over and comfort her, but she didn’t want to seem desperate to him, so she refrained.

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The overwhelming thoughts and emotions clawed at her mind and she could hardly take them anymore. Just as she considered calling Merideth again, her phone died and she was left in the darkness alone.

With no phone and no one to comfort her, she started to panic internally, shaking and quivering beneath her sheets. She then remembered the flashlight she received from Loren and walked to her desk, feeling around for it.

She bumped the soft pink bear softly and found the flashlight resting next to it. She turned it on then used it to help her find her laptop.

With her laptop in hand, she returned to her bed and set the flashlight down, illuminating the room. She then opened it up and began scrolling through her favorite social media outlets for comfort.

She watched a couple of funny and calming YouTube videos and regained her composure until the flashlight dimmed and shut off.

For fuck’s sake, she thought, annoyed at the additional misfortune. She shook her head and simply gave up on having a calm, peaceful night. Failing to distract herself, the images of the hatted figure still etched into her mind, and she struggled to free her brain of these haunting thoughts.

Was someone really out there? Is someone watching me? She considered walking out to Merideth’s room and seeing if her roommate was there, but she was too afraid to leave her room. What if the stalker was outside, waiting for me?

Josephine got up from her bed, paranoid about every terrifying possibility and situation her mind could fester. She then approached the window and stared out into the rain, searching for the hatted figure, but she saw no one, just the dark silhouettes of trees, campus buildings, and street lights.

Now, she was even afraid to turn around, to face away from the window. Is there someone behind me? Did someone sneak into my room while I wasn’t looking? She scared herself, jumping back into her bed and focusing back to her laptop which was still almost fully charged.

She read through a couple of articles that popped up about the storm, one captioned:

“Historic Thunderstorm Sweeps Through the Auberlin City Metropolis.”

She read on, “Starting around six p.m today, Wednesday, September 30th, a historic, record breaking thunderstorm came rampaging through the Auberlin City area, leaving hundreds of thousands without electricity. Many have been advised to stay inside to wait out these devastating storms. Floods have begun to reap through several counties, cutting off many streets from vehicle access. Dozens of people have found their own vehicles swallowed up in these two to three foot deep flood waters, rendered completely motionless. As of now there have been no reports of any serious injuries or casualties as a result of these floods, but others still out driving on these roads should be advised to avoid any streets experiencing this level of flooding. One-hundred miles per hour winds have brought down entire tree limbs and damaged homes and cars across the city. It is possible that these dangerous conditions may last for several more hours…”

Great. No electricity, no phone, no roommate, no Kairus, this sucks, Josephine thought while closing her laptop and trying to relax. She closed her eyes and tried not to think about her apparent stalker, but the thoughts stuck with her the whole night.

She eventually fell asleep, but late in the night, she was interrupted by an annoying rustling sound, chi-chi-chi-chi-chi…

Josephine awoke in a panic, jolting up from her sleeping position and then remaining completely motionless as her heart beat rapidly in her chest. Her nerves had overtaken her, making it difficult to breathe.

She laid there sweating and afraid to turn around, listening to the annoying chitter coming from behind her ears. What is that? She thought, contemplating whether she’d turn around and investigate, but she was too afraid.

Then, the sound stopped.

At this moment, all Josephine could hear was her own blood rushing through her head and her heart thumping against her rib cage, bump-bump, bump-bump.

She laid there, still motionless, hoping that whoever was in her room wouldn’t harm her and praying that it would only be her roommate.

A moment of suspense and silence occupied the room as she tried to contain herself and regain her composure.

Chi-chi-chi-chi-chi… The sound started up again, and Josephine realized exactly what it was.

“Lana? Please tell me that’s you?” Josephine asked desperately, scared that it could be someone else.

“Yeah. It’s me,” She replied.

“Are you eating my chips?” Josephine asked curiously.

“Shut up and go back to sleep,” Alana responded calmly, relieving Josephine of her fear and discomfort.

“Okay, bitch. Goodnight,” Josephine groaned back, smiling a bit at the relief.

“Oh hush,” Alana muttered, continuing to snack on a bag of Josephine’s chips.